Opposable Thumbs —

17 things we learned from Sony’s massive PS4 FAQ

No audio CD or MP3 support, but you can be logged in on two systems at once.

By our count, the massive Ultimate FAQ that Sony posted today regarding the PS4 answers 191 questions about the system, ranging from the essential (“When does PS4 come out in different countries and regions?”) to the trivial (“Does PS4’s graphical user interface have a name like the PS3 system’s ‘Cross Media Bar’?”).

You can read through the whole thing yourself, but you’ll end up wasting a lot of time on things that are obvious, already well-known, or simply inessential marketing speak. To help save you the trouble, here is our list of 17 good, bad, and ugly things we learned from the FAQ. While not all of these items are strictly new information, they are all important or interesting, and they're presented here to counteract the slow drip of information Sony has been putting out for months now.

The good

You can be logged in to two PS4 systems at once

As long as one of the systems is the “primary” system for a given PSN account, you can simultaneously log in on another PS4 without kicking out the first user. This will give you access to all the same games, cloud saves, and any other information from the second system—no fuss, no muss. This is potentially a killer feature for multi-system homes.

The PS4 supports system-level voice commands

With the PlayStation Camera or the included mono headset, you can “control key PS4 functions using [voice] commands such as starting up a game or taking a screenshot.” I’m sure Sony has mentioned this in the past, but the company has generally buried any talk of this feature. Microsoft, on the other hand, has been trumpeting the Xbox One Kinect’s support for voice commands from the highest rooftops for months now.

The PS4 is designed to stand upright or be laid flat

This is in contrast to the Xbox One, which Microsoft says you should only stack vertically “at your own risk.” Sony is even selling an official stand for $14 to make sure your vertical system stays stable.

You don’t need to reset the PS4’s video settings when moving a system to a new TV

Anyone who ever took their PS3 to a friend’s house, only to end up struggling to even get a picture to show up on a TV with different display settings or resolution, faced this annoyance. Apparently, Sony has fixed the problem this time around.

The PS4 uses an internal power supply rather than a bulky external power brick

The bad

The PS4 doesn’t support external hard drives

We had some idea this one was coming—Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida tweeted about it a few months ago, but the official confirmation is a big deal. One possible reason: all PS4 games have to be cached to the hard drive “to ensure a smooth gaming experience,” according to Sony. Trying to stream that cached game data over a USB connection might be too slow to provide the desired smoothness.

It should be noted that the Xbox One also won’t have this feature at launch, but Microsoft says that it is working on adding it in a future update. Sony’s answer doesn’t suggest any similar future update is coming. On the plus side, Sony reconfirmed that the included 500GB hard drive inside the PS4 is fully replaceable with another standard hard drive, just as it was on the PS3. The Xbox One, on the other hand, doesn’t allow for the internal hard drive to be replaced.

The PS4 can’t play MP3s or audio CDs, and it doesn’t have an audio visualizer

Some of the most surprising revelations in the FAQ have to do with the removal of a lot of audio media support functions that were in the PlayStation 3 (and have been in the PlayStation line since the original system, in the case of audio CD and visualizer support). This might seem like a baffling thing to remove until you scroll down a bit in the FAQ and read about Sony’s own Music Unlimited service, which is now the only way for PS4 owners to “create the soundtrack of their choice to listen to while playing their favorite games”—as long as users pay $10 a month for the privilege. We can’t say for sure that these two facts are linked, but it is rather suspicious.

Another PS3 media feature that’s missing from the PS4 is the lack of DLNA support, which will be disappointing to anyone who planned to use their PS4 as a media hub for their living room. These days, chances are good that you have some other devices hooked up to your TV that do largely the same thing. Still, it’s a disappointing rollback.

The PS4 needs a one-time online activation before it can play DVDs and Blu-ray movies

We’ve actually known about this since last week, when Sony first announced the day-one downloadable update that will activate many of the PS4’s launch features. Still, we find it a little amusing (and baffling) that the PlayStation 2 could play DVDs right out of the box back in 2000, but its successor’s successor can’t do the same 13 years later. This is progress?

The official Blu-ray remote for the PlayStation 3 won’t work on the PlayStation 4

We can understand why Sony would want to cut off support for the old DualShock 3 controller, which is missing a few key features that are built in to the DualShock 4. Removing the functionality of the old remote, though, is more mystifying.

You can’t add a voiceover to a shared gameplay clip on the PS4

While you can talk over a livestream of your gameplay, you can’t add audio to a recorded gameplay video clip before you share it to Facebook or PSN. Voiceovers can be added after the fact on the Xbox One using the system’s Upload Studio software.

Players can’t export PS4 gameplay clips directly to a PC

While this feature is being promised for a future update, it will be missing at launch. Combined with the lack of an external HDMI-capture solution until another future update means it’s going to be hard to get video off of the PS4 in a form that’s of much use to YouTubers and others who need it at launch.

The ugly

PS4 games no longer come on DVD?

That’s the implication from an answer indicating that “physical PS4 games come on Blu-ray Disc, the best form of media capable of handling the large amounts of data that PS4 requires.” We suppose there’s no reason to continue to support plain-old DVD-based games any longer, but it’s still the end of an era if the format is on its way out for game storage.

The PS4 allows for firmware update from a “safe mode”

Like the PS3 before it, you’ll be able to boot the PS4 to a “safe mode” by holding down the power button for seven seconds. This will allow users to install firmware updates from a USB memory stick, but Sony warns that “Users should only update using official files downloaded from PlayStation.com." How long do you think it will be before hackers try to use this safe mode installation to their own advantage?

The PS4 only supports four controllers being connected at one time

This is technically a downgrade from the PS3, which allowed for seven DualShock controllers to be synced at once. That said, I can’t think of any PS3 games that allow for seven-player local multiplayer, so this isn’t that much of a downgrade.

Vita Remote Play “may or may not work” outside of the home.

Sony warns heavily that playing PS4 games on a Vita while on the go requires “a robust and stable Wi-Fi connection and broadband Internet connection,” and Sony “strongly recommends” that you use the feature only when the Vita and PS4 are on the same local network. This is pretty different from Sony’s marketing messages, which show happy, bright-eyed young people easily accessing Remote Play without a care as they go about their days.

There’s no system level support for USB or Bluetooth mice

This isn’t that surprising, but it was still interesting to see it directly addressed. USB and Bluetooth keyboards will work, though, and “certain games” may support mouse control, Sony says.

So, the way I'm reading your bullet point list is "I couldn't really find anything serious to put on the "ugly" list. Is that correct?

I mean, if the *worst* we can say about the PS4 is that it doesn't play DVD games, then I think Sony did a pretty good job.

Quite honestly I'd have put the DLNA client removal in the 'Ugly' category.

I said this higher up, but ugly is not supposed to be worse than bad. It's supposed to be for the weird, hard to categorize stuff.

494 posts | registered Jan 17, 2012

Kyle Orland
Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area. Emailkyle.orland@arstechnica.com//Twitter@KyleOrl

272 Reader Comments

Sony just lost a buyer (I had the ps1, ps2, ps3), but not interested in the ps4 due to lack of media functions...no DLNA/no external harddrive/no mp3/cd support is just nuts..(the sad thing is u know it supports it..they are just not releasing the software, cause they want to lock u into their services).

Well mp3 is definitely supported because of DVD playback we know this much

Interesting and informative roundup. I'm curious what was so ugly about the "ugly" section? It seemed less bad than the "bad"...didn't it? I mean, how many people care that the game discs aren't DVD anymore? Isn't everyone just buying the game on whatever disc it's on? It's not like I had the option of buying Uncharted 3 on DVD. AFAIK, there were no PS3 games on DVD either... So having the PS4 continue that trend doesn't seem like much of a change to me.

Also, 7 controllers? That's cool...but the only way it's pertinent is fora) do the Move+nunchuk count as 2 controllers? thus, would it only support 2 players using the full Move regalia?b) only 4 players for Johann Sebastian Joust!? lamesauce!

Allowing a firmware update from safe mode.. So...what's ugly here? The fact that there is a safe mode you can boot into in case you are having problems? Seems more like a good thing to me. Having a safe mode seems better than just having the console boot into some error state that you can never get out of without sending it in for maintenance.

Sony just lost a buyer (I had the ps1, ps2, ps3), but not interested in the ps4 due to lack of media functions...no DLNA/no external harddrive/no mp3/cd support is just nuts..(the sad thing is u know it supports it..they are just not releasing the software, cause they want to lock u into their services).

Well mp3 is definitely supported because of DVD playback we know this much

Dear snoy, You suck. For profit.NO backwards compatibilityNO games in 2k resolution NO mp3 NO keyboard & mouseNO OtherOSNO Dualshock 3 / bdrom remotesAren't I glad I have two 60GiB ps3's running CFW 4.50?Give us what we want, or we will find a way to take it, and you'll be sorry. What brand of rank retards have you got at the top, snoy? Way to ensure your new console can't fill its predecessor's shoes. Sega is waiting for you to join them.

Loving all these new accounts getting opened just to spread the hate, especially as we don't know for sure that missing functionality won't be introduced in subsequent firmwares.

It sucks (for some) that certain 'must-haves' aren't in at launch, but (as mentioned before) not so long ago we were all singing the praises of the devs making sure the console is -- first and foremost -- a games machine. All that other crap is mostly software and can come later.

Loving all these new accounts getting opened just to spread the hate, especially as we don't know for sure that missing functionality won't be introduced in subsequent firmwares.

It sucks (for some) that certain 'must-haves' aren't in at launch, but (as mentioned before) not so long ago we were all singing the praises of the devs making sure the console is -- first and foremost -- a games machine. All that other crap is mostly software and can come later.

Like that mattered for the XBone?

By removing all of that they've shown their intentions. Anything they do from then on out is just excuses, BS and damage control.

First, let me just say that I find the removal of CD audio or DLNA support from the PS4 retarded, and there's really no excuse in doing that.

However, in danger of being downvoted for just for asking, I really have to wonder how so many ARSians can say that DLNA is such an important feature for them on their PS3s which apparently they use as primary streaming client for videos. Ok, so what exactly are you watching on your PS3 that is streamed via DLNA then?

Because for sure it can't be newer movies. The PS3 did get Cinavia DRM with one of the firmware updates a couple of years ago, as it became mandatory for BD players. The problem is that, on the PS3, Cinavia is not only active for DVDs/BDs but also for streaming content (and even for video files played back from the PS3 HDD or an external drive). As virtually all newer movies come with Cinavia protection in their audio track (no matter if it's ripped from a DVD/BD, downloaded from some filehoster/file sharing network, or even filmed with a camera in a cinema), and Cinavia is still regarded as 'unbroken', playing any newer movie on the PS3 means that the sound is gone after roughly 20mins. So unless you favor watching movies with subtitles and without sound (or just very old movies) then the PS3 is probably one of the worst DLNA players out there.

Of course one could probably keep the PS3 firmware at a level before Cinavia was introduced, but that also means no newer games, no PS Store and no PSN (which all require recent firmware).

So I wonder what exactly are you streaming to your PS3s which is not affected by Cinavia?

Just curious...

Well for a start all my CDs (about 2000 collected over 20+ years) ripped to my media server on my NAS.And my photos.

Movies I watch on Bluray.

With the PS3 hooked up to a my nice Sony surround amp and TV (which is an early full HD Bravia so no media abilities on it) it made for a well integrated system, especially as I live in a market with Sony PlayTV so I use the PS3 as a PVR as well.

Just because you can only think of a single use doesn't make it the norm.

It's probably to reduce licensing costs similar to the Blu Ray and DVD activation. I suspect Sony did some analysis and determined the number of people who played mp3s wasn't worth including it and that they could save a mint by making Blu Ray and DVD support require activation thus they only pay the fees if you try to use it.

Sony just lost a buyer (I had the ps1, ps2, ps3), but not interested in the ps4 due to lack of media functions...no DLNA/no external harddrive/no mp3/cd support is just nuts..(the sad thing is u know it supports it..they are just not releasing the software, cause they want to lock u into their services).

Well mp3 is definitely supported because of DVD playback we know this much

'The PS4 uses an internal power supply rather than a bulky external power brick'

Ive never really understood why people think this is a particularly good thing. My current power brick is behind the small cabinet that houses my consoles, I never have to see it or deal with it at all. Meanwhile it reduces the size of the console, reduces the strain on cooling, and allows me to replace it separately (and I know at least one person who needed to.)

The size of the new X-Box PSU is getting silly (Especially given its also a bigger console.) but the fact its external... well it borders on being a perk for me.

Sony just lost a buyer (I had the ps1, ps2, ps3), but not interested in the ps4 due to lack of media functions...no DLNA/no external harddrive/no mp3/cd support is just nuts..(the sad thing is u know it supports it..they are just not releasing the software, cause they want to lock u into their services).

Well mp3 is definitely supported because of DVD playback we know this much

DVDs typically use the AC-3 codec, not MP3.

So it is.. I was under the impression it was used for two channel audio. But that's MP2, which isn't even a requirement in NTSC regions.

Are you honestly trying to justify them charging to fix a problem they caused because some people are not technically savvy enough to flash a new firmware to a machine that doesn't boot properly? My god.

No, I'm not. But then, how many non-technically savy people are going to replace their PS3's hard disk and therefore were actually affected by this problem? Exactly, probably none.

And if you are savy enough to replace a hard drive then you should be savy enough to use a search engine, download a file, copy it to an USB drive and re-flash your PS3.

Support should have walked him through that process too. Lazy customer support. They just want to have another called marked "resolved."

'The PS4 uses an internal power supply rather than a bulky external power brick'

Ive never really understood why people think this is a particularly good thing. My current power brick is behind the small cabinet that houses my consoles, I never have to see it or deal with it at all. Meanwhile it reduces the size of the console, reduces the strain on cooling, and allows me to replace it separately (and I know at least one person who needed to.)

The size of the new X-Box PSU is getting silly (Especially given its also a bigger console.) but the fact its external... well it borders on being a perk for me.

I prefer no power brick because it's a lot harder to manage the cables behind my entertainment center with a bunch of bricks laying around. There's quite the slew of cables and straight cables are easier to manage than bricks, is all.

'The PS4 uses an internal power supply rather than a bulky external power brick'

Ive never really understood why people think this is a particularly good thing. My current power brick is behind the small cabinet that houses my consoles, I never have to see it or deal with it at all. Meanwhile it reduces the size of the console, reduces the strain on cooling, and allows me to replace it separately (and I know at least one person who needed to.)

The size of the new X-Box PSU is getting silly (Especially given its also a bigger console.) but the fact its external... well it borders on being a perk for me.

I prefer no power brick because it's a lot harder to manage the cables behind my entertainment center with a bunch of bricks laying around. There's quite the slew of cables and straight cables are easier to manage than bricks, is all.

I do prefer them for your thought regarding replaceability, though.

Slightly O/T: But I'll take a power brick over a wall wart any day. Those damn wall warts always blocking two or three other slots on my power strip are really annoying. No really, I only wanted to be able to use half the outlets on my power strip. Thanks wall warts!

Slightly O/T: But I'll take a power brick over a wall wart any day. Those damn wall warts always blocking two or three other slots on my power strip are really annoying. No really, I only wanted to be able to use half the outlets on my power strip. Thanks wall warts!

'The PS4 uses an internal power supply rather than a bulky external power brick'

Ive never really understood why people think this is a particularly good thing. My current power brick is behind the small cabinet that houses my consoles, I never have to see it or deal with it at all. Meanwhile it reduces the size of the console, reduces the strain on cooling, and allows me to replace it separately (and I know at least one person who needed to.)

The size of the new X-Box PSU is getting silly (Especially given its also a bigger console.) but the fact its external... well it borders on being a perk for me.

I prefer no power brick because it's a lot harder to manage the cables behind my entertainment center with a bunch of bricks laying around. There's quite the slew of cables and straight cables are easier to manage than bricks, is all.

I do prefer them for your thought regarding replaceability, though.

Slightly O/T: But I'll take a power brick over a wall wart any day. Those damn wall warts always blocking two or three other slots on my power strip are really annoying. No really, I only wanted to be able to use half the outlets on my power strip. Thanks wall warts!

A wall wart that a modern console would use today would be comical. You'd probably need to anchor it to the wall.

"Your PS4 comes with a convenient wall mounted AC/DC converter, two 50lb wall anchors and a seismic strap. Be sure not to place it overhead as it could be a hazard for curious children, or cats."

Slightly O/T: But I'll take a power brick over a wall wart any day. Those damn wall warts always blocking two or three other slots on my power strip are really annoying. No really, I only wanted to be able to use half the outlets on my power strip. Thanks wall warts!

The author invented a new way to use Good\Bad\Ugly lists. He said he used it to list things he thought were "weird".

Okay, let's get this "G,B,&U" situation sorted out:

As many of us are aware, the use of "the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" is a reference to the film of the same name, specifically its titular characters. Those familiar with the movie will recall that the character referred to as "the Ugly" isn't portrayed as good enough to be a "good guy," but equally isn't bad enough to be a "bad guy." He's somewhere in the middle, though unpleasant enough to receive a pejorative as his given descriptive moniker. "Weird" is close enough to "Ugly" in this context, as it is still being used pejoratively, but not with enough force to warrant a Manichaean classification. Thus, the author has not invented a new application for the use of "G,B,&U" as descriptors, but is actually referencing the original use, faithfully reflecting the source material.

Now we know that usage in language is a flowing, descriptive discipline. Technically, it is true, the predominate usage of "G,B,&U" translates to "Good, Bad, and Worse." This is the new primary application. However, the original definition stands as an acceptable form of usage. We can see this with other words, for example, "generally." "Generally" once meant, strictly, "without exception." Over time, enough people used it...I won't say incorrectly, but let's settle on differently for diplomacy's sake. It, once upon a time, absolutely (you could say, generally, even...) did NOT mean "usually" or "in most cases." At some point the primary usage of the term changed to something completely different, and the dictionary now reflects that. However, the original usage stands as an accepted definition. It's still there in the dictionary, just situated below the late-arriving primary listing.

We are currently witnessing the gradual (oft maligned) metamorphosis of the strict definition of the word "literally." It is now accepted usage in places where it means the literal opposite of its old definition. Like "generally," both usages are now accepted. There may come a time in the not-too-distant future where the new definition supplants the old as the primary form of usage. Nevertheless, both usages will remain correct, in spite of the muddying of the waters that occurs when a word can be its own antonym. This isn't Good, but it isn't Bad. It's just, well, Not Pretty*.

So we've established that the author has not used "G,B,&U" incorrectly, so to speak. We might agree though that it is enough to say that, as a writer who writes with the goal to clearly and concisely inform the reader, it is most helpful (dare I say, appropriate) to adhere to the primary usages of word choices and conventions. So: not "Wrong," but not optimal, either.

The author invented a new way to use Good\Bad\Ugly lists. He said he used it to list things he thought were "weird".

Okay, let's get this "G,B,&U" situation sorted out:

blah, blah, blah

Despite your analysis, the fact is good, bad and ugly have been used a particular way on Ars since forever (or at least a very long time) and to suddenly change the meaning as understood in the context of Ars Technica is confusing to readers. Hence the complaints.

This sounds like they want to prevent people from hacking the system. There were many losses over people hacking the PSN when they had homebrew updates on the ps3. I think Sony might be playing it safe. Maybe they will add apps to the ps4 for media server support.

So, the way I'm reading your bullet point list is "I couldn't really find anything serious to put on the "ugly" list. Is that correct?

I mean, if the *worst* we can say about the PS4 is that it doesn't play DVD games, then I think Sony did a pretty good job.

Quite honestly I'd have put the DLNA client removal in the 'Ugly' category.

I said this higher up, but ugly is not supposed to be worse than bad. It's supposed to be for the weird, hard to categorize stuff.

Could we vote to change these articles to the "The Good, The Bad and the WTF List" upon which I will officially patent such lists for all intents and purposes and sue Ars for its usage o.0! But really I actually think "worse" ting throws us off because we're really just skimming to the list itself and we forgot there's a body of paragraphs proceeding it =/

BTW: the firmware 3.41 issue happened over two years ago, and in the now almost 7 years the PS3 is on the market it was the only problem which was only visible with non-original hard drives, and it was fixed quickly by Sony.

How anyone can take a 'buyer beware! don't replace your PS3 hard drive' away from it is beyond me.

As incredibly condescending as you were in this reply, I'll respond.

The firmware issue was corrected only for slim models. Anyone with a fat 40 gig (like mine) wouldn't take the flashed firmware correctly.